


Not Going Anywhere

by whenhopefadestoblack



Category: The Originals (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-31
Updated: 2017-07-31
Packaged: 2018-12-09 12:30:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11669160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whenhopefadestoblack/pseuds/whenhopefadestoblack
Summary: Freya does her best to keep Keelin out of the supernatural dangers of New Orleans, but she can't protect her from everything.





	Not Going Anywhere

**Author's Note:**

> I'm terrible at summaries! Written with the help of sozialenigma1, who is really good with headcannons and helping my stories become better ^.^  
> Also, here is a fanvideo made by sozialenigma1 about the fic!   
> https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=l7eB1SZh0Gw

Someone gets into the compound.

It's happened before- a carefully placed swipe across her neck, an invisible hand stopping her heart, both obliterating her boundary spells.

This time she's not quite sure what it is; all she knows is that she's asleep one second, and the next she's waking with a sense of dread that usually forewarns something horrible is about to happen.

Panic spreads through her sleep-addled mind at first because it's three in the morning and the sheets on the other side of the bed are cold. Then she remembers; Keelin waking her gently in the middle of the night, kissing her on the cheek and telling her she was going to work and would see her tomorrow.

Keelin is safe, but her former home is not and with that in mind she discards the blanket sticking to her legs and gets dressed, not even bothering with a jacket as she leaves.

She reaches the compound in half the usual time, finding the intruder waiting.

"You have got to be kidding me."

It's a kid.

A witch, yes; she can sense the energy thrumming through her from here, something off about it. But she's still a kid, barely more than sixteen.

"Freya Mikaelson?" she questions, stepping closer with a tilt of her head.

"And who are you supposed to be?"

"You can ask your brothers that. And this girl... well, I neglected to ask before taking control of her body, if I am honest."

Not as young as she looked then.

"You're here for my siblings? Well, I hate to tell you-"

"I know you Mikaelson's have scattered across the globe. We ancestors hear just about everything your demonic little family gets up to."

"So, what, one of my siblings killed you a hundred years ago and you had yourself resurrected for revenge? Sorry, but I have hundreds of years on you."

"Oh, I know," the girls smiles wickedly as she flicks her fingers, and the simple gesture has a figure detaching from the shadows and walking over. " _That_  is why I brought her."

Keelin.

She comes forward to the witch's side, eyes blank as she comes to a halt, still in the clothes she was wearing when she left their home. The girl clicks her fingers, and Keelin's vision clears.

"Freya?" she whispers when she sees her, tries to move forward but the girl clicks her fingers and she falls still again.

Freya can feel something building in her- fear, anger? Probably both, threatening to overwhelm her.

"You let her go."

"Oh, no, no, no, I think you misunderstood. See, Keelin here is my leverage. You are going to do what I say, or I  _will_  kill her."

"I can stop you-"

The girl rolls her eyes, and a swipe of her wrist later Keelin is brought back to herself but she's choking, holding her throat as she struggles to breathe.

Freya watches as she drops to her knees, letting out a panicked breath. Keelin is staring up at her, eyes wide and dark and watery,  and Freya has never felt more helpless than in this moment. 

"Okay!" she shouts out. "Okay."

The girl flicks her wrist again and Keelin gasps, inhaling deeply and coughing as her hands' press to the floor.

"I warned you. Next time, I slit her throat. Just like the Hollow made you see when she entered your mind."

"I'll do what you want, okay?" she tries to catch Keelin's eye, but her girlfriend is still doubled over, head pressing to the floor, heaving in breath after breath after breath.

_This would never have happened if you'd just let her go._

The thought comes unwanted, has tears building on her lashes and she draws in a shuddering breath, trying to steel herself as she waits for the girl's demands.

"Well, we can start with-"

Keelin lunges suddenly, grabs the girl around the ankle and yanks her downwards, her teeth sinking into the girl's throat.

She's thrown away, but the distraction is enough that Freya can move forward, a quick muttered spell causing the witch's heart to fly free from her chest into Freya's palm.

She drops it almost instantly- she can worry about whether or not she'll come back later, because Keelin is still sprawled out on the floor, unmoving.

"Keelin," she lands on her knees next to her, presses her fingers to her neck, her wrist.

Her pulse is weak but there, the worrying thing being the blood seeping out from under her hair and the fact that she's not responding.   

"Keelin," she repeats her name, as if it will do anything, feeling panic bubble up when it doesn't. Swallowing, she takes a breath in and tries to calm herself, knowing she can't do anything for her in this state. 

_"This is ridiculous," Freya presses her hands gingerly to the CPR dummy, looking up at_ _Keelin_ _, who is_ _fighting a smile._

_"Hey, magic isn't going to always be able to get you out of a bind, you said so yourself. It's good to have a backup."_

_"I feel ridiculous."_

_"You won't feel ridiculous when you're saving someone's life."_

"Okay," Freya carefully slips her fingers underneath Keelin's hair to cradle her skull, fighting nausea at the almost lifeless roll of her head, but the spell comes to her naturally, magic flowing to her fingertips and she feels it working almost instantly. 

_Please, wake up..._

Keelin's eyes flutter open slowly, unfocused at first before they shift to meet Freya's. 

"Hey," she breathes, and Freya lets out a startled laugh, feeling tears build up and she leans forward so their foreheads are pressed together, fingers still threaded into Keelin's curls. She pulls back slowly then, detaches her hands and moves back so that Keelin can lever herself up.  "I'm okay," she murmurs softly, tries to catch Freya's gaze but the witch can't bring herself to look back. 

_She would never have been in danger if you just left her alone._

_She's better off without_ _you_ _._

 

"What are you saying?"

Keelin is undoubtedly staring at her from the bed, hair still damp around her bare shoulders, startled by the words Freya had cut her off with. They'd made it back to the apartment a few hours before, and Freya had held her silence for as long as she could. 

_I can't do this anymore._

"It's not safe for you, being with me."

She can't look at her. Can't bear to turn, to see the inventible heartbroken look on Keelin's face. Can’t stand that she’s responsible for putting it there. 

"Freya, what-"

"This needs to stop," she closes her eyes then. "I was foolish, thinking that this would work-"

"Hey," Keelin is behind her, turning her, hands on her shoulders, eyes wide and dark. She can see the shimmer of tears there, hear the hitch in her breath. "I'm fine. You made sure of that. Without you-"

"You'd be happily living in Austin, away from me and away from danger. You'd be-"

"I'd be dead, Freya. Hayley said so herself, the vampires had been hunting me-"

"You should have just left!" her voice comes out harsher than she means it to, and Keelin steps back as if Freya's just slapped her. "When you went to that bus stop, you shouldn't have come back," she swallows, heaves in a breath and looks at Keelin as steadily as she can. "You should leave."

"Freya-"

"Leave……please!" Freya says pleadingly. Keelin continues to stare at her, the first tear slipping down over her cheek. "GO!"

She doesn't mean to shout, and something wrenches in her gut as Keelin flinches, but she doesn't see her expression because she turns away again, faces the window and hears the eventual tread of footsteps walking out the door.

Keelin's better off without her, but she still can't bear to watch her walk away.

_(Freya)_

She doesn't see her for a week.

It's an unspoken understanding between them; Freya may have been the one to ask Keelin to leave, but Keelin found their home for them and she doesn't want to take that away from her, so Freya stays in the bell tower.

It's difficult, going from seeing her every day, being able to hold her, kiss her, to not having anyone.

She feels as alone as she did before she found her family.

It's almost impossible to keep from seeing her; she stays in the bell tower for the first two days, alternating between casting magic and talking to Rebekah through her astral projection spell. They're part-way through a conversation in the early hours of the morning, Rebekah having brought up Keelin despite Freya's attempts to avoid it,  when she finds herself crying, all the emotion she'd been holding back spilling out of her, and she's so shaken she can't hold the spell and it breaks, Rebekah fading from her sight and leaving her crying.

Alone.

She manages to drag herself back together, though there's a hollow feeling in her stomach as she leaves the tower to get herself something to eat, to distract herself from what she'd done.

They communicate a few times by text, the most heart-breaking one being when Keelin tells her she'd be out of their home for the day so that Freya can pick up anything she needs.

She almost doesn't go but finds herself pulled to their apartment without realising it, and before she knows it she's opening the door and letting herself in.

It hasn't changed, and she can practically see the memories they'd made there; the good and the bad, the beautiful and the heart-breaking.

She's drawn to their room, finding it exactly the way it was before, bed made up for the day. She finds herself tracing her hands over the sheets, moving over to Keelin's side of the bed and when she leans in close enough she can practically smell her. 

_She wakes to kisses on her stomach, a warm body settled over hers, and her mind is cloudy enough with sleep that she raises her head with a confused 'what?', causing the woman_ _ontop_ _of her to laugh._

_It's a beautiful sound, and she smiles as_ _Keelin_ _stares up at her, eyes dark, grinning as she presses another kiss to Freya's hip._

_"Good morning,"_ _she murmurs then, resting her chin in the dip of Freya's abdomen._

_"Morning."_

_Freya is content to lie here like this,_ _as_ _Keelin_ _is settled between her legs,_ _tracing her fingers down the outsides of her thighs. Her teeth sink into her lower lip as_ _Keelin_ _kisses her wa_ _y over her chest, until they're nose to nose and_ _Keelin_ _captures Freya's lips with her own._

_She melts easily into the kiss, cupping_ _Keelin's_ _cheek_ _with one hand and sliding the other over her lower back. When she finally pulls back, Freya is a little breathless, and_ _Keelin_ _is smiling._

She all but collapses onto the bed then, feels the emotions overwhelm her as she curls up and presses her face into Keelin's pillow, breathing in the scent that's unmistakably her.

She falls asleep surrounded by it, and when she wakes up it's night time and the tears have long dried on her cheeks. Keelin clearly hasn't been back yet, and she finds it as a small mercy, quickly escapes from their former home to the bell tower.

_How am I going to do this?_

She doesn't see her for a week, until she walks into Rousseau's and she's there, leaning over the bar and talking to Josh.

Her breath shudders out of her and she has to physically hold herself up with a hand on the doorframe, feeling as if she's going to break apart again just at the sight of her.

Josh's gaze meets hers across the bar, and when he opens his mouth to speak she shakes her head quickly, practically throws herself around the corner as Keelin's head starts to turn in her direction.

She's struggling to breathe, panic in her chest and she closes her eyes to centre herself. It takes a few minutes, but she manages it, and when she looks back inside Keelin is no longer at the bar. It's a relief and a pain, which melds into panic at the voice that comes from the left of her.

"You're avoiding me? Really?"

Keelin stands there, drink in hand, face stony as Freya stutters.

"Keelin-"

"You didn't want to see me, I get it, but I didn't think you'd be one to hide."

"Keelin-"

"You didn't want to talk," she downs the drink in her hand, and the shakiness of her fingers and how her pupils are blown wide has worry turning her stomach. "You didn't give me a chance. So we're not talking. Goodbye, Freya."

She leaves then; a slight wobble in her step as she breaks out into the sunlight, and Freya casts a glance back at Josh, who shakes his head.

Mind made up, Freya exits the bar and follows her.

She makes it back to her apartment, albeit shakily- Freya doesn't doubt Keelin would throw a fit if she knew Freya had helped her out along the way, telekinetically pushing more than one hazard out of her way, even stopping a car that got a little too close to comfort.

She can't help her as she fumbles with the key, but she manages to help as she yanks the door open so quickly she loses her balance, preventing her from taking a backwards tumble down the steps.

She can see the confusion from here but stays hidden until Keelin has retreated inside. When she's gone, she presses herself back against the wall, releases a breath and lets the tears collecting on her lashes to fall.

It continues like this for the next couple of days. Whilst she doesn't actively follow Keelin, she just turns a corner and... she's there. In a store, on the street, and it's like she can't help herself. 

She wants to protect her- from herself and from others, and she's damned if she's not going to with little else left to do.

She's stupid to think that Keelin doesn't notice.

She finds her at the jazz bar they'd gone to after the Mikaelson party, feels an ache in her chest at the familiar setting and the memories that flood her when she enters, and it's too much for her when she sees the girl press up against Keelin's side, run her fingertips over Keelin's arm, tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear... When she sees Keelin grin with an edge of teeth, the smile that had sucked her in in the first place.

She doesn't mean to do it, but in times of emotion (especially now. Especially this) she'd always struggled to control her magic.

The next thing she knows the girl's sleeve is aflame, she's staggering back from Keelin, and the bartender is throwing a towel over the flame to put it out, whilst Keelin watches the whole thing with wide eyes the second before she turns and sees Freya.

_Uh oh._

The look on her face is less than amused, and Freya finds herself shrinking back as Keelin storms over, her expression becoming one of outright fury.

"Really, Freya? This is what it's come to?"

"I-"

"You think I haven't noticed you?" she demands, heaving in a breath. "You have to stop, Freya. Stop following me, stop protecting me. You wanted this, you left me. So you need to let me go. Because it is hard enough for me to stay away from you without you lurking in every corner of my life."

She's silenced by Keelin's admission, by the way her voice waivers and her eyes shine with tears.

"The past few weeks have been so...  _difficult_ , Freya. But they've been even more difficult because of you," Freya retains her silence, though her hands curl into fists at her sides, and she can feel the emotion building in her throat. "You wanted this," Keelin repeats, her voice hitching slightly. "You wanted to..." she breaks off, tears her gaze away from Freya to stare at the wall. "Wanted me to leave, and I- I did what you wanted, even though it pained me to do so, and I was terrified Freya, terrified that one day I'd get told by Josh you'd been hurt, or killed, that I'd walk into the hospital one day and you'd be in one of those beds-" there are tears on her cheeks now, and she's stumbling over her words. She inhales sharply, tries to compose herself under Freya's gaze. "I even went on a stupid date, some girl from the Ninth, to try and stop myself from thinking... but I can't stop thinking about you."

Freya exhales shakily, biting her tongue as Keelin steps slightly into her space, close enough that Freya can smell the alcohol on her breath, mixing in with her natural scent and a hint of perfume.

"I was  _happy_ , Freya, with you. Yes, it was dangerous, but I'm a  _werewolf_. Danger comes with the territory. I didn't care about the danger because I was with you. I knew you'd be there to protect me, and I'd protect you too. We protected each other, and I-" she missteps then, staggers slightly and Freya grabs her without thinking, bringing them close enough together that Freya can feel Keelin's breath on her cheek.

It'd be so easy right now, to kiss her...

But Keelin beats her to it.

It's a frenzy of lips, tongue and teeth, Keelin's hands fisting in the back of her top as Freya cups her cheeks, finding herself pressed against the stone wall of the bar.

It happens against her better judgement; the bell tower is the closer of their two places and the time it takes to get them there passes in a haze. The next thing she knows Keelin has pressed her into the mattress of the bed, lips travelling down her neck, fighting her free of her clothing.

She gasps at the feel of her; nails scraping across her hips, tongue across her collar bone, the friction of hips against her own. 

It's over all too quickly.

They're left in a tangle of sweaty limbs on the bed, Keelin's hair getting in her face, her skin warm beneath her palms.

She's still tingling, but the fact that Keelin won't look at her has something akin to nausea twisting in her stomach along with it.

"Keelin..."

"Don't," Keelin breathes, her voice shaky with emotions. She's upright before Freya can even blink, bare feet on the floor as she curls in on herself, shoulder hunched. Freya takes in the contours of her back, gaze travelling down the notches of her spine before she sits up.

"Keelin-" she tries again, but Keelin shrugs away her hand as soon as she feels fingertips on her shoulder. 

 "Please, Freya, just... don't."

_ (Keelin)  _

__

It's a week later that Josh turns up at her door, bombarding her with frantic knocking and panicked words. A week full of hurt and pain and struggles, of unsuccessfully throwing herself into work and trying to distract herself from Freya, from her memories and thoughts and feelings. 

He's lucky that she's home, having only been back an hour.

"Josh," she cuts him off. "Take a breath. Explain."

Her voice is remarkably calm considering the panic that's racing through her veins; there's only one reason he would be here.

"You need to come with me," he manages. "Now. It's Freya."

She gets her medical bag before she leaves, finds herself grabbed by Josh and in a dizzying rush of speed they arrive at the bell tower.

"What happened?" she questions quickly as they head up the stairs.

"She told me she was doing this spell, some kind of defensive magic... I was checking on her twice a day, I got here this morning and..."

He trails off as they reach the top of the stairs and when Keelin sees Freya she has to resist the urge to throw up.

Freya is stood behind the table, her hands spread out over the map there, candles lit up all around the room, her voice hoarse and barely there as she mutters a spell.

What scares Keelin the most is the fact that there's blood practically cascading from her eyes, down her cheeks to splatter onto the wooden table top beneath her. She's swaying too, barely able to keep on her feet, and Keelin immediately drops her bag and heads over to the other woman.

"Freya!" she remains unresponsive to her words, continues chanting even as blood spills from her nose and begins to stain her teeth. She barely moves as Keelin grabs her wrist, so she forces herself into the space between the table and Freya, presses her hands to her cheeks. "Freya," her voice breaks slightly on the word, nauseous at the sight of the blood, the feel of it on her hands. "I know you feel like you need to do this, whatever this is... but I need you to stop," those green eyes are still distant, bloodshot, and there's so much blood Keelin isn't sure how much longer she's going to last. She inhales deeply, stroking her thumbs over the ridge of bone on Freya's cheeks. "I need you to come back to me. Please," she whispers the last word, voice broken and heart breaking along with it, and edges forward to press their lips together.

_This has to work._

There's nothing at first, no response, but then Freya is gasping against her lips and she pulls back to green eyes staring at her.

"Keelin?"

Her voice is hoarse, weak, and a second later her knees give out, causing Keelin to grab her by the waist, sliding her arms around her back to keep her upright.

The position causes Freya's chin to hit her shoulder, resembling some kind of awkward hug, and she can feel Freya's racing breaths against her skin, her hands raising to grip Keelin's shoulders.

She moves to steady her then, manoeuvres them so that Freya's arm is around her shoulder as she leads her to the bed, setting her down gently.

"Keelin-"

"Don't," she can barely hold back the emotion in her voice, unsure if it was due to anger or fear. "Not now. I can't... just..." she stands and walks over to the door, grabbing her bag and making her way back to the bed. Josh is standing awkwardly in the doorway, a hesitant presence she can feel staring at her, and she turns. 

"Do you want me to..." 

"Not now," it's a selfish part of her, an angry part of her that wants Freya to learn that she can't do this all the time. "I need you to, uh, get me some things though.." she fills him in and he nods, and is gone in the next second. 

Several minutes and a dozen anti-septic wipes later Freya is in a semi-clean state, albeit a tired one as she sways on the bed, barely able to keep her eyes open. "Sleep," Keelin basically commands her, and she's weak enough that Keelin easily manoeuvres her into a horizontal position on the bed. She can't quite help but brush her fingers over Freya's temple as she drifts.

"Keelin..." she hears Freya whisper, just before her eyes slide closed. "I'm sorry..."

Keelin can't bring it in her to respond so she just waits it out, until Freya's breathing deepens out, her body relaxing into the bed.

That's when the tears come; she can barely hold back the sobs in her chest, has to retreat away from the bed so that she doesn't wake the sleeping witch, curling herself up in the furthest corner and clenching her hands into her hair, struggling against the emotions threatening to overwhelm her.

She feels angry and scared; furious that Freya let herself get to this point, terrified at the prospect of there being a day she wouldn't be able to save her from herself when she got into this state.

She calms herself finally, her chest aching and head pounding from the force of her tears, and makes her way back to the bed, checking Freya's pulse and finding it fast, hearing the slight wheeze to her breathing.

Anyone else she'd be dragging to the hospital, but she knows that's no good here, so she wipes the last traces of tears, forces herself to be calm in knowing Josh would soon be back with the things she would need. She settles herself down then, resting her head against the side of the bed.

She doesn't know how much longer she can do this.

She's barely able to keep her eyes open when Freya finally awakens- the witch panics at first, fights against the IV for a second before Keelin stops her with a slightly sloppy hand to the arm.

"Stop," her voice comes out sharper than intended, and Freya looks at her, eyes wide.

"Keelin?"

_God, don't tell me she doesn't remember a thing._

"You're dehydrated. You need to keep-"

"You stayed," Freya is slightly breathless, eyes flooded with emotion.

"Well, I didn't save you just to let you die."

She doesn't know how much longer she can stay awake, but she's not going to sleep without giving Freya a piece of her mind.

"Keelin-"

"You scared the hell out of me," the words practically burst out of her chest, and Freya draws back as much as she can, eyes wide. Keelin is sure she'd be a lot more eloquent with this if she weren't so sleep deprived. "Josh turned up on my doorstep and I thought... god, Freya, you can't keep  _doing_ this. I'm not going to be there every time, Josh isn't going to be there, and if you kill yourself..." her voice breaks, and she has to take a second to steel herself. "You could kill yourself, doing this," she speaks more steadily. "You can't protect the world if you’re dead. You need to protect yourself first."

"I wasn't trying to protect the world," Freya said softly, looking down. "Just New Orleans. For you." 

Her tone is heart-breaking, and Keelin is finding it so hard to be mad at her right now.

"That's even worse, because you  _know_ that I don't want you to, especially if it leads to this."

"Then I don't know what to do," Freya's voice is hoarse, her eyes wide and filled with tears. "I thought pushing you away... I thought if you didn't have me... you'd be safe. But it's not safe here, with or without me."

"That's what I've been telling you," Keelin feels exasperated, unconsciously reaching out and brushing Freya's hair out of her face. "There's always going to be danger, there's always going to be a fight, nothing you can do will change that. I was fine with that. I just wanted you."

Her thumb brushes over Freya's cheek then, and she finds herself leaning forward, their foreheads bumping together. She closes her eyes, feels Freya's breath against her skin, and has to swallow past the knot of emotion in her throat.

"Please, just don't do that to me again," she opens her eyes to Freya nodding quickly, feels the witch's hands cup her cheeks and hold her there.

"I won't," she promises, and Keelin can tell that she means it, even though she has a feeling that in a few months, that could change. "I... I want... I just..." she trails off, takes a moment before starting again. "I should never have pushed you away. And I know it may take some time, but if you'll have me, I-"

Keelin cuts her off with a kiss, deep and longing; she kisses her in the way she's wanted to since this all happened. She pulls back to Freya's startled expression, lips parted, eyes wide.

"I am by no means happy with you right now, Freya Mikaelson," she says softly. "I am exhausted, hungry, and still a little terrified... but that doesn't change the fact that  _you_ have me. I'm yours, and you're mine."

Freya nods, kisses her again softly, before drawing her up so that they're both on the bed, turning as much as she can so that her back is pressing against Keelin's chest. Keelin wraps her arms around Freya's waist, their fingers linking together as she closes her eyes.

"I love you," Freya's voice is slightly broken, and Keelin can't find it in her to respond, mainly because she doesn't think she has the energy, but she presses forward so that she's nodding against Freya's shoulder, tightening the grip she has on the witch's fingers. It's a silent response, one that she's hoping to vocalise soon.

But for now, she just wants to sleep with the woman she loves.


End file.
